How We Invest: What Companies are Right for RevUp

In this video short, Managing Partner Melissa Withers lays out what she & her partners look for in a new investment

What does RevUp look for in a new investment? In this video short, Managing Partner Melissa Withers gives a brief overview of the Fund’s selection criteria and the mission and values that inform how she and her partners select companies for investment. Prefer to read the transcript? Scroll down.

We select investments on a rolling basis. If you are interested in being considered for investment, or wish to request a screening meeting, please complete our prescreening form or send your current investment deck.

How We Invest: What Companies are Right for RevUp

Hi, I’m Melissa Withers, Managing Partner and cofounder of RevUp Capital.

If you're watching this video you may already know that RevUp uses a non-equity model to invest into fast-growing companies with non-dilutive capital and world-class support.


But what kind of companies do we select? What do we look for in a new investments? That’s what I am going to cover in the next few minutes.


My partners and I created RevUp after working for many years as equity investors. We wanted to break free from the "exit or bust" constraints of the equity-only model.


So rather than take equity in a company, we use what’s called a revenue contract to generate returns.


In short, companies return a small percentage of revenue over time, until reaching a predetermined cap. This usually takes between 4-5 years.


We’ve used this model to invest in more than 50 companies since 2016.


Not every investment has been a smash hit, but across my entire career, RevUp founders are, hands down, some of the finest and most talented entrepreneurs that I have ever worked with.


So let’s start at the top: What do we look for in a new investment?


We invest into both B2B and B2C companies with revenue traction, a solid growth rate, and a strong team. Across the fund’s history we are split about 70% B2B and 30% B2C.


One thing that all of our companies have in common is stage. We invest into companies that are just beginning to ascend the $1-$10M growth curve. If you've conquered this curve, you know just how hard it is.

If you haven't (but want to), having the right strategic investors along for the ride is critical to success.


That’s because going up this curve is challenging. Many of the approaches and behaviors that get a company to the first million dollars in revenue don’t help them get to ten.


In some cases, those approaches and behaviors can be a serious barrier to getting up the curve at all. Our companies understand this and they are looking for investors who will increase the chances that they’ll succeed.


So I guess you can say we're gluttons for punishment, because we invest at the bottom of this curve. We’ve optimized our investment approach for this leg of the company journey and to help more companies get to the top faster.


For specific selection criteria, let's break it down into two parts ….first Baseline economic criteria and second, company profile and culture.


For the baseline, we are typically investing into companies that are:

  • In the market, actively selling, and ready to grow to $10-15M in revenue in the next few years. These are companies that make and sell products and services that their customers want and need.

  • Our companies typically come into the portfolio with annual revenue of $500K - $3M

  • We also care a lot about growth rate. Our companies may need more fuel on the fire to go faster, but they not stalled out or stuck on the tracks

  • We only invest into companies that can comfortably support a revenue-based investment. if you're really early or your business runs on very low margins, a revenue-based investment just might not be a fit for you.

  • In this spirit, we invest into companies that have solid underlying unit economics and/or a path to profitability. Burning isn't always bad and there's nothing wrong with investing into growth if you have the right resources in place. But after investing in 100 plus companies, I assure you that getting a company to cash flow breakeven is a good place to be, even if a company chooses not to stay there for very long. It’s all about optionality. More optionality makes a company harder to kill and more resilient when faced with the unexpected

 

Beyond these baseline criteria, we look for companies that have operational and cultural qualities that track with our mission and values. Through this lens, we select for companies

  • With a strong leadership team and proven execution ability. Our founders may dream big, but they also know how to operate.

  • We seek out Teams that are ready, able and willing to build a more scalable marketing and sales engine.

  • For some, this might mean moving away from purely founder led sales. This might mean building on what you've learned from your initial go to market effort in order to expand. And it almost always means a readiness to bring new capabilities into the mix.

  • And since we are talking about team...Since 2018, 70+% of RevUp investments have been into companies led by a woman or person of color. And many of those that weren't, were into companies where the founders were building their businesses outside networks of privilege. They weren't coming with fancy pedigree or building their companies in top-tier markets. Or self funding with personal wealth. but that has not, WILL NOT stop them from building big successful companies. These are our people and that won’t change anytime soon.

Perhaps most importantly, we select for companies where we know we add unique and strategic value.

While we were one of the first to bring Revenue based funding to earlier stage companies, we remain one of very few that use a high touch, portfolio-based model. This is a stark contrast to the high-volume, transactional models of many others in the space.

Our model also combines cash investment with intensive hands-on support to help companies build a stronger, more scalable marketing and sales engine.


Building this engine quickly and efficiently is critical as companies move from early traction to sustainable growth—this is a time when missed opportunities and market-facing errors can make the difference between success and failure.

To give our companies the best shot at success, we built an internal growth platform that we offer to all of our investees. The platform includes tools, processes and people to help our companies scale faster.


We NEVER want to be the sole reason our companies succeed. But we do want to be a force multiplier. We want to amplify and simplify, expand and support in ways that help our companies go farther faster.

Getting up the 1-10 million dollar curve is a battle, and we know that it takes a lot more than more than money to win.

So, If it's not obvious that our growth platform adds important and strategic value, then we probably won't invest.

And that’s it. Well, that’s about all you can fit into a 5 minute video. You can always find more info at revupfund.com

Thanks for watching and I’ll see you soon.

 

More About RevUp Capital 

RevUp Capital invests in B2B and B2C companies that are revenue-driven and ready to double down on growth. We deploy cash and capacity to help companies grow from $1-3M to $10-30M, quickly and efficiently, using a revenue-based model. Companies enter our portfolio with $500K-$3M in revenue, a strong growth rate, and a team that’s ready to scale. Our typical investment range is $300K-$500K.

We invest into a company's market-facing activity using a cash and capacity model. We pair our cash investment with dedicated support from the RevUp Growth Platform: a powerful resource to build a data-driven growth engine, delivered by people who get the work done. Rather than take equity, companies return investment through a small percentage of revenue over time. More at www.revupfund.com

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